Stoves for heating dwellings are as old almost as is civilization itself. Originally, it was necessary to make stoves from stone; but when metals became available, one of the first peaceful uses was the building of stoves therefrom. The original metal stoves were nothing more than metal enclosures for retaining burning wood. Such enclosures were a great advance over stone fireplaces since the metal enclosure had much better heat transfer and could radiate heat from all of its sides.
Aside from a change in the appearance of such stoves there has been very little change in the efficiency of such stoves over the years. In the case of forced air furnaces, improvements have been made by blowing the air to be heated through tubes located apart from the combustion chamber and over which the exiting flue gases pass. In the case of steam boilers, the products of combustion pass either through tubes having water on the other side, or around tubes with the water inside the tubes. In the case of stoves, however, the products of combustion heat the enclosure and the enclosure then radiates to the room in which it is located. No improvements having an appreciable effect on the efficiency of the unit have to my knowledge been made.
A problem has existed with prior art stoves, in that it has been possible for soot, creosote or other combustible materials to become deposited on the cooler surfaces of the enclosure. These deposits build up over a period of time and then ignite when the stove is already being overheated by an excessive amount of combustibles in the enclosure. Many prior art stoves become warped under such conditions, since the enclosure is not capable of dissipating the heat through its outside surfaces. Many of the prior art stoves do not have air tight enclosures with the result that warpage opens up further cracks in the enclosure at the very time that it is essential to reduce the flow of air to the combustion chamber. It is possible for such stoves to "run away" and the enclosure to rupture and thereby release its contents over the surrounding area. It is possible for substantially all commercially available stoves with which I am familiar to become overheated or rupture and thereby set afire the dwelling in which they are located.
An object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved stove having sufficient heat dissipating surface relative to the volume of this combustion chamber to limit the maximum temperature that can be generated in the stove to a safe level incapable of causing a rupture of the enclosure.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved stove which delivers a greater percentage of the heat from the fuel burned therein to the room in which it is located than do prior art stoves.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved stove of the above described type having an enclosure for its combustion chamber that is sealed tight except for two openings, one being the charging door and the other being a smoke outlet.
A further object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved stove of the above described type having at least one warm air conduit extending across the combustion chamber and which opens outwardly of the opposite sidewalls of the chamber, and which has a vertically extending draft producing passageway connected to a generally centrally located region of the warm air conduit.
Further objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates from the following description of several preferred embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification.